Hatfield 2nd XV 10 Harlow 4th XV 34

Friendly 

Before we talk about this weeks game, there is some disturbing news from the 4^th team changing room.  No fewer than 4 players picked up an eye infection after playing last week.  Some of the players have shared this infection with their other halves and this has caused untold problems.  There are various theories as to how this was spread, none of which are pleasant or likely to be true.

This week saw the 4^th team travel away with a healthy number of players, met and gone by 1.30 as planned.  We had already arranged to lend the opposition some players, they needed 3 and Steff, Rob and Rob stepped up which made for a good game.  Hatfield have a few problems with their pitches, overnight last week the council put a football pitch onto the second of Hatfields pitches, no one knows what setting to use on the lawn mower, as a result of this the grass is cut all round the pitch but not on the pitch.  The long grass made kicking difficult and we nearly lost our hooker on several occasions.

The 4^th team have discovered that having a proper set of backs can make for a much more interesting game than if you have 12 forwards and 3 backs.  The first Harlow try was a sneaky dive on the ball after it had popped out of the scrum, surprising everyone except Justin the scrum half.  A more direct approach was employed by Sunbed, straight up the middle and don’t stop for anyone.  The next try was a result of Karl the winger taking the ball at pace he cut inside pretty much the whole opposition and then unselfishly gave it Sunbed to score.  The next time we span the ball out to him, Karl found some space and scored himself.  Steff in the meantime had managed to get his name on the scoresheet by beating several defenders and scoring for the opposition( we knew about his sidestep, and still he scored).  For the second week running the scrum was rock solid, we won several balls against the head, this gives the backs the platform they need to get all the glory.  The second half saw some changes, new players were brought on and old ones rested, the scoring slowed down a bit as Hatfield tightened their defence, Mumbles scored, I can’t remember the details but I expect he will tell you about it himself( you may not be able to understand him though).  Aunty scored a great forwards try and the first defender he hit is probably still going backwards, there was no stopping him from close range.

There were some great performances from Barney, Chris”Eyeball”Powell, Karl and Mex who has found a new position(even at his age).

Man of the match Toss up between, Karl, Tony and Aunty

C of the match Not me this week. Possibly Darren for getting dump tackled by Steff

Try scorers

Justin 1

Karl 1

Sunbed 2

Aunty 1

Mumbles 1

Coversions

Karl 2

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